Improvement in potato-digger



a a right angle to said bar.

can, swag JAM-i328 YA-LBYAUGH, or Lyon's, New YORK.

Letters Patent No. 104,401, dated June 21, 1870.

mr1iovnmnnrm POTATO-DIGGER.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same To all whom'it nmy concern:

Be it known that I, JAMESALBAUIGII, of Lyons, in the county of Wayne and State of New York,

have invented certain new andnseful Improvements in Potato-Diggers; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of thistspecificationsin which is shown a perspective view of my improved device.

My invention has for its object the'product-iou of a cheap, durable, and efiicient -means whereby one operator oan'underrun a hill of potatoes, raise the same,

and free the potatoes from the soil; and, to this end,

It consists in the peculiar construction of the device, and the arrangement of its several parts, as is hereinafter set forth.

In the annexed drawing- A represents a bar of metal, having secured to and projecting from its lower side a series of rods, B, the

same-beingarranged parallel'with each other and at Other rods, 0, extending upward from the bar A, and connected-at their upper ends to a bar, D, having the form of a'flat arch, with its ends secured within sitions' laterally, and 3 device. l

the ends of said bar A, completes the-digger and sifter, which is supported and operated by the following described devices:

vlwo metal bars E are secured at their front ends to the upper side of the bar A, aud-from thence extend backward and slightly upward and apart, so that their ,rear endsmay furnish suitable handlesfor use of the operator.

Two diagonal braces F, neartheir center, lengthwise, insure their relative poserve to strengthen the whole attachedto the bars E Resting in suitable bearing 9, upon the bars E, is a shaft, G, having secured thereon at its center, length wise, a wheel, H, of a sufiicient size so that, when theoperator is holding the handles at the ordinary height, the rods or tangs of the digger will just clear the ground.

The device is now complete, and is operated as follows:

The operator, grasping the handles, pushes the digger'forward until a hill is reached, when, by slightly raising his hands, the tangsare caused to enter said hill and pass beneath the potatoes. A downward motion of the hands now raises the potatoes, from which any adhering soil may be removed by a slight shake, be run to any desired after which the digger may place and its load deposited.

The advantages of this device are that, by its use,

one man can, without fatigue, perform as much labor as is possible for two men with ordinary utensils, in

addition to which the work is more thoroughly done, and less liability exists to bruising the potatoes.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and 'merits' of my invention,

What I claim as new, and desireto secure by Let; I

ters Patent, is-

A harid potato-digger, consisting of the bar A, the

tangs B, the rods 0, theeurved bar D, the handles E, the shaft (5}, and the single wheel -H, all constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I-claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 22d day of February, 1870.

- JAMES ALB-AUGH. Witnesses: l a

WM; VAN' MARTEB,

Fnnn. BENNETT. 

